Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/197145
PACKAGING New Wrinkles in Wine Packaging The latest innovations in screwcaps, private labels and shipping containers By Jane Firstenfeld O ur annual November survey offers hundreds of suppliers an opportunity to post news about their companies' freshest products for the grape and wine industry. It also offers us a peek at developments we've not previously published. We pored over almost 100 early submissions in the packaging segment, handpicked some of the most intriguing, and sought out additional information for our readers. Close it up The closures category continues to be in transition. This year, two notable suppliers reported major advances in screwcap technology. VinPerfect of Napa, Calif., added two more oxygen-regulating liners to its SmartCap line. The Medium Plus and Light liners "fulfill VinPerfect's goal of creating a range of SmartCaps that provide winemakers the choice of three different oxygenperformance levels that best suit their wine styles," according to CEO Tim Keller. Keller detailed the liners' capabilities: Light allows 0.08mg of oxygen transfer per year; Medium 0.16mg per year, and Medium Plus 0.37mg per year. Highlights • ackaging developments evolve at a P rapid pace. Read about the latest innovations from design to shipping. • ow mainstream, screwcaps come N with varied oxygen-transmission rates. • igital technology makes it easy to D provide private-label options for commercial brands or consumer orders. • ine clubs and other direct-toW consumer sales may benefit from special shipping containers. 38 W in es & V i ne s Nov e m b e r 20 13 Screenprinted bottles come in all sizes, shapes and décor. Ontario's Stanpac is moving to a larger facility and adding capabilities including organic and UV printing. "Very roughly, the intended usage is to match the oxygen levels with wines in the way you see them presented: light-bodied wines for the Light liner, fuller bodied whites and medium-bodied reds with the Medium, and the Medium Plus for more robust wines," Keller said. Strictly speaking, "There are no rules of thumb that work for everyone. The wine's overall exposure to oxygen throughout its life—as well as the oxygen pickup of the package on the bottling line—needs to be taken into account. "All of our oxygen rates are several times lower than even the tightest synthetic cork. We offer very fine control over oxygen within a very narrow range. In our commercial trials with various wineries, the oxygen level is low enough that it mostly helps to develop the aromatics and mouthfeel, but there is not a huge impact in terms of lost free SO2, so shelf life is not compromised in a significant way," he explained. "Our liner is twice as expensive to make as Saranex, but the liner is such a small part of the cost of the overall cap that it doesn't affect the cost in a noticeable way. That said, the price varies depending on desired decoration and volume—from under $100 per thousand for large-volume orders of stock caps up to just under $200 per thousand for a single box of laserengraved caps. "We handle decoration two ways: For small orders, we carry 16 stock colors that we have on hand at all times, and that we can decorate with our proprietary laserengraving process. The laser is a way to deliver very crisp, highly detailed graphics on the top of one of our stock-colored caps," Keller said. "This is a favorite of boutique producers who don't order enough volume to meet the minimum order requirements of the other cap companies. Since there is no tooling involved in the process, and we have the caps on hand in our Napa facility, we can turn those jobs around in under a week most of the time." Slightly larger orders can command a wide spectrum of decor options such as custom colors, embossing, multi-colored